Of ancient painting the reliques are so few and so much injured by time,
that to form a proper judgment of it, is at first difficult. Yet if due
attention be paid to pictures discovered at Rome, and latterly in the
ruins of Herculaneum, the applause which the painters of antiquity
received from their contemporaries may seem to have been merited. Among
the ancient paintings in fresco, still at Rome, are a reclining Venus at
full length, in the palace of Barbarini; the Aldovrandine nuptials; a
Coriolanus, in one of the cells of Titus’s baths; and seven other
pieces, in the gallery of the college of St. Ignatius; taken out of a
vault at the foot of mount Palatine; among which are a satyr drinking
out of a horn, and a landscape with figures, both of the utmost beauty.
There are also a sacrificial piece, consisting of three figures, in the
Albani collection; and an Œdipus, and a sphynx, in the villa Altieri;
which all formerly belonged to the tomb of Ovid. From these specimens an
advantageous judgment may be formed of the ability of the masters who
executed them. Others, discovered at Herculaneum, disclose a happiness
of design and boldness of expression, that could only have been achieved
by accomplished artists. Theseus vanquishing the minotaur, the birth of
Telephus, Chiron and Achilles, and Pan and Olympe, have innumerable
excellencies. There were found also, among the ruins of that city, four
capital pictures, wherein beauty of design seems to vie with the most
skilful management of the pencil. They appear of an earlier date than
those spoken of, which belong to the first century; a period when
painting, as Pliny informs us, was in its decline.